Pushing the Global Bioeconomy Needs International Technology Transfer

 

Abstract

Industrial demand for more cost-efficient processes, innovative products and feedstock-flexibility as well as the societal driver of climate protection is pushing the bioeconomy – the vision of an industry based predominantly on renewable raw materials.

In fact, already today the bioeconomy makes up 17% of the European GDP and its expansion seems just to be a technological challenge - with industrial biotechnology key in producing food, feed, fuel and fibers from renewable carbon sources. Industry and academia are pushing the just emerging synthetic biotechnology, improving continuous processes, cutting downstream processing cost and integrating biotechnological and synthetic process steps.

However, beyond such technological topics more challenges appear on the horizon: i) renewable carbon sources will gain value when substituting fossil feedstock more and more, ii) biomass producing regions will become more relevant for industrial production and iii) the bioeconomy value chains ask for cross-sectorial cooperation of agro- and silvicultural enterprises, biorefineries, energy and chemical industries as well as the consumer sector.

This presentation will present drivers and challenges of the emerging bioeconomy as well as its impact on global value chains. Finally it will discuss CLIB2021 as a successful model of cross-sectorial partnering and Chinese-German cooperation opportunities.

 

Biography

Dr. Manfred Kircher is Chairman of the Advisory Board of CLIB2021 (Cluster Industrial Biotechnology.V.) - a non-profit organization of more than 100 members from industry, SME, academia and investors in Europe, Russia, North-America, China and South-East Asia.

Manfred Kircher brings along more than 30 years of business experience in industrial biotechnology in R&D, production and financing at Evonik (Germany), Fermas (Slovakia) and Burrill&Company (USA). He has a proven track record in moderating Open Innovation Platforms, building Project Consortia and Industrial Cluster and is advisor to private enterprises and public bioeconomy programs.

In 2014 he founded KADIB, a bioeconomy advisory company (www.kadib.de). He has been awarded with a honorary professorship of the Michurinsk State Agrarian University (Russia). Manfred Kircher is biologist by training (Goethe-University; Frankfurt, Germany).